Church provides shelter

Annette Holford was preparing to leave her home with her young son on June 8, 1966, to go to a convention at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, 610 S.E. Lime. Holford’s husband was at work.

“It was tornado weather,” Holford said, recalling how humid, still and sunny the day had been. “The neighbors said, ‘Come over to the church across the street.’ I said, ‘No, I have to go to (Mount Carmel).’ ”

Then an older neighbor sent her son-in-law back to Holford’s home with a message: “Mom says for you to come now.”

Holford, then in her mid-20s, obeyed.

“That’s what we did in those days, you obeyed what the older people told you,” she said. “If he hadn’t come and got me, I’d have been right there on the road when the tornado hit.”

Holford, now a 62-year member of Mount Carmel, doesn’t remember the name of the church in which she and her neighbors took shelter, nor does she remember whether warning sirens had sounded. In their neighborhood, she said, no one had a basement, so the church served as a tornado shelter.

Holford recalled some of the damage left by the tornado. It destroyed the home of the Rev. W.L. Templeton, pastor at Mount Carmel, and ripped part of the roof off the Baptist church, leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling. Later, rainfall ruined the seats in the sanctuary, and the congregation conducted services in the basement until repairs could be made.

People attending the Mount Carmel convention sought shelter in its basement. In an account collected by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Wilma Kizer wrote she wanted to avoid the crush of people trying to reach the basement, so she opened the door.

She was immediately confronted by the storm.

“Instantly, I was lifted off my feet into the air with all sort of debris,” she wrote. “Cars were airborne and crashed together. I screamed and cried aloud. The wind and terrible roaring sounded absolutely indescribable to me.

“After one block, I was let down on the pavement and I could see the storm passing on.”

Kizer was stiff and sore, but otherwise unharmed.

Although Mount Carmel sustained damage, “we went ahead and had church services,” Holford said.

The Assumption Catholic Church, 204 S.W. 8th Ave., and MacVicar Chapel at Washburn University also were damaged.